62 



TOBACCO BREEDING. 



There are numerous tobacco diseases which the writers believe may 

 be largely eradicated by producing immune strains. It is the inten- 

 tion of the Office of Plant Breeding Investigations to take up work 

 with as many of these diseases as seems practicable and endeavor 

 by selection to produce resistant types wherever it is possible to do so. 



A NEW VARIETY PRODUCED BY 

 SEED SELECTION. 



UNCLE SAM SUMATRA. 



The original plants from which the 

 variety of tobacco known as Uncle 

 Sam Sumatra has been i^roduced by 

 seed selection were grown under shade 

 on the plantation of the Connecticut 

 Tobacco Corporation, near Tariffville, 

 Conn. The first selections were made 

 in the season of 1903 on this planta- 

 tion in a field the plants of which were 

 grown from seed originally brought 

 from Florida. The Florida seed was 

 produced by plants which were grown 

 from seed originall}^ imported from 

 the island of Sumatra. In a careful 

 study of the Connecticut-grown Su- 

 matra crops in 1003 a number of dis- 

 tinct types were discovered, some of 

 which were evidently very undesira- 

 ble, while others were apparently 

 desirable. A striking illustration of 

 two of these types is shown in Plate 

 VIII. The seeds of typical plants 

 of these types were saved under bag 

 and tested in 1904 in an experimental 

 field' of 4 acres on the Indian Head 

 Plantations, at Granby, Conn. Fur- 

 ther tests of the Uncle Sam variety 

 in the season of 1905 in the Indian 

 Head Plantation experimental field and in other fields in the 

 Connecticut Valley and of plants of this variety grown in Florida 

 from Connecticut-grown seed have demonstrated the value of this 

 variety for growing under shade for the production of cigar wrap- 

 pers. The original plants of the Uncle Sam variety showed striking 

 variations from the generally accepted type of Sumatra tobacco, but 

 were believed to more nearly approach the ideal of a desirable cigar- 



96 



Fig. 9.— Typical plant of Uncle Sam Suma- 

 tra tobacco, originated by the Department 

 of Agriculture in the Connecticut Valley 

 from Florida-grown seed and now being 

 extensively grown for cigar-wrapper pro- 

 duction. The shape, size, venation, 

 stretch, color, gloss, and other characters 

 are specially well suited for cigar wrap- 

 per*;. This variety yields a large number 

 of the best grades of wrappers, and is 

 very uniform in all characters. It is a 

 vigorous-growing plant, of early maturity 

 and small seed production. 



